He’s a businessman in the fictional town of Bedford Falls, who is about to lose his loan company to the rich, evil banker Mr. Potter. Bailey considers committing suicide on Christmas Eve, deciding his family and the townspeople would be better off without him. Instead, J. Edgar Hoover’s Communist-hunting agents thought it was a Trojan horse sneaking anti-American propaganda to the masses. The FBI gave a report to the House Un-American Activities Committee, an investigative subcommittee established to suss out organizations and individuals with suspected communist ties. While the suspicion of the film was typical for the FBI during that era, a movie as popular as “It’s a Wonderful Life” will always launch a thousand interpretations.

Source: Washington Post December 21, 2017 09:43 UTC